Modular Impersonates Buchla

I've recently become interested in Buchla synthesisers, in particular the Buchla Easel. I've been very taken with Todd Barton's demonstrations of this instrument. One of the things I found interesting was that learning about the deceptively simple design of the Buchla Easel, helped me to think about how I might patch my own micro modular set up. I came up with a playable patch that I don't think I would have arrived at if I hadn't learned about the Easel and the way Todd patches it. I guess it's obvious that studying synthesisers will teach you about patching but it is a new idea to me - looking at what Don Buchla considered to be essential for a performance synth gave me fresh eyes when it came to my own patching.

I was inspired enough by this to make a short video, which I've posted on YouTube. Here is the link, if you'd like to watch it.

Excellent idea and video. May have to try this patch. Thanks for sharing!

Hi ModLifeCrisis,

Wow-oh-wow! What a sound you got there!!! That's a kind of sound you want to die for, that good! :-)

Nicely done and thanks a lot for sharing this, kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Excellent idea and video. May have to try this patch. Thanks for sharing!
-- farkas

Hi ModLifeCrisis,

Wow-oh-wow! What a sound you got there!!! That's a kind of sound you want to die for, that good! :-)

Nicely done and thanks a lot for sharing this, kind regards, Garfield Modular.
-- GarfieldModular

Thanks both for your responses. It was quite a fun patch to explore. I enjoyed the performance aspect of it. And I did like the sound I got from Plaits. I'm very new to modular, but one thing I'm finding is that I need to have the patience to twiddle and twiddle and try a wire here and a wire there, for ages, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, out of nowhere I'll get this amazing sound. Often not, too, of course. Or I'll get a sound I like then lose it again...

Cool. I still want a real Buchla and Serge panel one day. Would be fun to combine with eurorack.

Sounds great. Plaits shines here. Buchla is alien to me but I'm always blown away by what people do with it. For patch inspiration I've used the Madrona Labs Aalto plug-in, which is inspired by Buchla system. You can get great patch ideas just by noodling around with it. Aalto

Cool. I still want a real Buchla and Serge panel one day. Would be fun to combine with eurorack.
-- sacguy71

Yes, I would like a Buchla too. I'm quite taken by the Easel. It's expensive, and compared to what you could buy in Eurorack for the same money, expensive I suppose. But I'm drawn to how well it has been designed and sometimes less is more. Although sometimes more is more too, I guess...

Sounds great. Plaits shines here. Buchla is alien to me but I'm always blown away by what people do with it. For patch inspiration I've used the Madrona Labs Aalto plug-in, which is inspired by Buchla system. You can get great patch ideas just by noodling around with it. Aalto
-- JoePaige

Yep, I'm finding that it pays to persist with Plaits (sorry about the alliteration!) and when I modulate it I've managed to get some quite gnarly sounds out of it, which I like. I was a bit worried at first that my rack was basically digital but the more I learn about the few modules I have, the more I see that there is always a new way to patch them up and get something cool. Thanks for the tip about Aalto. I've had a quick browse and it looks really cool. I'm going to download the demo and try it out. Cheers.